Circuit breakers for motor vehicles are sufficiently well-known. For example, DE 197 12 544 A1 discloses a circuit breaker and circuit breaker wiring. In order to guarantee safe interruption of contact in the event of a serious collision involving vehicles, DE 197 12 544 A1 suggests cutting off the supply of power by mechanical cutting of a fuse. However, the result of this cutting of the fuse is that after a serious collision the circuit breaker is destroyed and has to be replaced.
DE 197 12 544 A1 also suggests the use of a pressure block to push a movable contact onto a fixed contact and thus maintain conductivity. Electromagnetic coils can be used to cancel the holding status by opening the breaker. The disadvantage of such an arrangement is that, for example, external forces which are not attributable to a collision may exceed the strength of the holding element and thus cause a break in the circuit. This leads to undesirable operational interruptions.
DE 196 06 447 A1 suggests a circuit breaker for vehicle battery cables. In this circuit breaker a piston is inserted into a hollow cylinder of a recess and the current path is thus obtained. In the event of a fault, the piston is forced out of the hollow cylinder by means of a percussion cap. The current path is interrupted by the forcing out of the piston.
The piston can be prevented from jumping back into the original position by an annular shoulder in the hollow cylinder. This very precise circuit breaker arrangement has the disadvantage that it is expensive to manufacture. Therefore it is only worthwhile for use in high-priced vehicles.
Finally, EP 1 469 564 A1 discloses a pyrotechnical battery pole separation element. In this separation element, a one-piece conductor arrangement is separated at a separation point by means of a separation element arranged on a separation piston if there is an accident. The separating piston is driven by a pyrotechnical drive. Here, too, it is disadvantageous that when triggered, the one-piece conductor is destroyed and thereafter must be replaced. This is cost-intensive.
On the basis of the aforementioned disadvantages, the invention was based on the problem of providing a circuit breaker for electrical power leads which is, firstly, economical to manufacture, and secondly, guarantees faultless operation.